1. Technical Field
This document relates to pump devices used in medical procedures. For example, this document relates to centrifugal pump devices that can be used in an extracorporeal circuit during on-pump open-heart surgery to facilitate surgical procedures such as coronary artery bypass grafting.
2. Background Information
Extracorporeal circulation is the circulation of blood outside of the body through a system that temporarily assumes an organ's functions, for example, through a heart-lung machine or artificial kidney. A centrifugal pump is sometimes utilized within an extracorporeal circuit to provide the pressurization that makes the blood flow through the circuit. For example, centrifugal pumps are sometimes used in the main line of the extracorporeal circuit in order to pump blood from a reservoir, through an oxygenator, and finally back to the patient.
In some cases, centrifugal pump heads are magnetically coupled with a drive motor. In such an arrangement, the centrifugal pump head is a passive component that is powered by the drive motor via the magnetic coupling. As a result, the drive motor can be isolated from contacting the blood, and therefore readily reused. The blood-contacting centrifugal pump head, in contrast, is a single-use disposable component.